Welcome, Valkyries!
As your Associate VP and Director of Athletics, it is truly my pleasure to welcome you to campus for the new academic year. Our department is excited about the upcoming year, and we cannot wait to get started! We have an incredible team of administrators, coaches, and support staff ready to serve you and provide you with the resources you need to reach your fullest potential as a student-athlete at Converse University.
My hope for each of you is that you will pursue excellence in everything you do. By pursuing excellence, you will become the best version of yourself. There’s no limit to what we can accomplish if we work together, stay committed, and keep our priorities straight.
Those priorities include attending and participating in class. Take pride in doing well in school, and help us achieve our cumulative grade point average goal (3.2) each semester. You all have performed very well in the classroom over the last eight years, and I am so proud of how we prioritize our academics. With a full commitment to academics and with the help of our campus resources, you will continue to be successful.
Last year, several of you broke individual and team records, we won more conference championships, one of you was a runner-up in the national championship, and another one of our Valkyries won a national championship, with several others becoming All-Americans! I am so proud of everything you accomplished in your sport venues, and I look forward to seeing you achieve even more this year. 18 of our 21 programs competed in their respective post-season tournament last year, but let’s strive to get all 21 programs in the postseason this year. The level of excitement going into this year is quite high, and I hope you all continue to do your part in keeping it that way.
We continue to find ways to give back to our campus community but also our local Spartanburg community. I hope you will strive to make a difference on our campus and in the community. A new requirement this year, all student-athletes are expected to get involved on campus. Whether it is within the student government association or another student organization, we want you to be involved in something outside of your sport, as this will improve your experience and help you become a more well-rounded student-athlete. As for the Spartanburg community, we will provide you with opportunities to serve others, but I encourage you to find ways to serve in areas in which you have a passion.
As Valkyries, we are Built to REIGN. Through Respect, Excellence, Integrity, Grit, and Nobility, we develop champions — not just in competition, but in the classroom, in our community, and in life. We embrace adversity, lead with purpose and compete with an unbreakable will. This is not just how we play. This is how we live. This is the Valkyrie Way.
Go, Valkyries!
Jenn Bell
Associate VP/Director of Athletics